John Steel Collection - Books 4-6

Chapter 15

Tooms and Tony decided to check out the hotels on West 59th Central Park South. They had been told about a hotel with a park view, of which there were many. They had tossed a coin as to where to start north or south. Heads had won the toss, so south it was.

As they entered the lobby of one of the hotels, they were met by a tall man with a broad smile wearing a blazer with the hotel’s name on it. He was thin, with a pencil moustache, his black hair brushed back as though it should reveal a large forehead, but in the event all there was to see was a receding hairline. His whole demeanour was that of a snake—even his face had a serpent’s aspect to it.

“Hello, gentlemen, may I help you?” asked the snake man, who was obviously the floor manager. Tony and Tooms showed him their shields and his smile quickly disappeared.

“I am Detective Tooms, and this is Detective Marinelli,” Tooms said, tucking his ID back into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a photograph of Amber, and it was obvious that the man immediately recognised her.

“Has something happened to Sharney?” the man asked, almost panicking. Tooms and Tony looked at one another in surprise.

“Her sister was found murdered on the night before last. Sir, is there somewhere private we can speak?” Tony asked as he looked around the lobby at the other guests.

“Yes, of course. Please follow me.” The man nodded and led them to a back office near the reception.

“Sorry, but who are you, sir?” Tony asked, taking out his notebook to jot down any details. The man was sitting on the edge of a small desk in a decent-sized office.

“I am Mr Tate, and I am the daytime floor manager,” Tate said, still looking badly shocked.

“We are trying to track her down,” Tooms said, with a stern look on his face. “To let her know about her sister.”

“I didn’t know she had a sister. I’m sorry,” Tate said, sincerely.

“How well did you know Sharney?” Tooms asked, letting Tony take notes. Tate shrugged and smiled as he considered the question.

“She used to work here, part-time of course. She had a kid, so she could only work half days. But unfortunately, she had to go.” Tony looked up from his notebook, his pen poised over the paper. He was shocked to hear about Sharney having a child.

“So why did she leave?” Tooms asked, folding his massive arms.

“She had a new job in Phoenix, or was its Philadelphia? I can’t remember, sorry,” Tate said and shot them a quick embarrassed smile.

“How long did she work here?” Tony asked, curious about the manager’s strange demeanour.

“Oh, around six months, I believe. She was a cleaner here.” Tooms noticed Tate’s hand move a photograph in a stand-up frame, as though he was trying to hide the picture from them or from himself. Tate was obviously hiding something: he clearly had a little skeleton in the closet.

“Did you know her well?” Tooms asked, suddenly getting a bad vibe from the floor manager.

“No, not really. It was a manager/employee relationship. I told her what to do, and she did it.” Tate’s smile almost made Tony want to push his head in the fish tank that stood on the far wall.

“So, do you have this kind of formal relationship with all of your staff, sir?” Tooms asked, almost seeming to be polite. Tate’s mind seemed to wander off, and his grin returned as if he was thinking about past employees.

“Yes, we have good working relationships here at the hotel.” Tate’s eyes began to sparkle. Tooms smiled before he spoke. “Thank you, sir, for your time. Would it be OK to speak to any of your staff?” He watched the smile disappear from Tate’s face, to be replaced by a wary, nervous expression.

“Uhm, what for?” Tate’s voice began to tremble, and he started to fidget with his hands.

“Because they may know Sharney better than you do,” Tooms said, trying his best to sound reassuring. “After all, they were all work colleagues. It may give us a better picture, that’s all.” Tate smiled again; this time, it appeared to be more relieved, more like a friendly gesture. The two detectives turned to leave the office. Tate got up from his spot on the desk to look outside to make sure they were heading out of the building. Tooms said nothing as he opened the office door and stepped back into the lobby. As he did so, the guests all seemed to either hide their faces in magazines or suddenly start gazing out of the window. Tony smiled at their poor attempts to look casual. He wondered what stories would arise from this investigation. The pair headed for the door and stepped out into the street. It was three o’clock, and they were beat. It had been a long day. They both knew they wouldn’t get any information from the other staff members. In fact, Tooms was certain that they wouldn’t even remember Sharney. They climbed back into their car and headed back. But first Tooms needed to make a stop-off. He felt another chilli dog coming on.

* * *

McCall stood in front of her murder board with a marker in her hand. Tooms had called her with news of the sister. How people remembered her and that she had supposedly moved to Philadelphia or somewhere with else with a ‘P’ in its name.

Sam had contacted Philly P.D. to see if they could track her down. She didn’t seem hopeful, though. Her gut told her that Sharney had never left New York. The truth was they didn’t know a hell of a lot about either of the sisters. Financials had come back, and nothing had popped. Amber’s records were clean. From what McCall could gather, she was well-liked and hard working.

Feeling frustrated, McCall sat on the edge of her desk and just looked at the board, hoping something would pop out at her. This was one of those cases she hated. The sort of homicide that would be investigated for a short while and then become a ‘cold’ case. She looked up at the clock. Tooms and Tony would be back soon, but from what Tooms had said on the phone, they had very little information to share.

McCall looked up at the picture of Tara Burke. She was now missing; the chances were that she was scared and running. A sane person would go to the cops for help. But McCall had seen the body, and she could understand how scared that might make anyone. Run before they come back for you, would have certainly been the first idea on Tara’s mind. This was a puzzle with far too many pieces that were missing or lodged in the wrong spaces.

Run before they come back for you,Captain Brant walked out of his office and just stood staring at McCall. He could almost feel her brain sorting through the evidence on the board. He could also feel the tension emanating from her.

“Trouble with the case?” he asked. She didn’t turn around, just nodded slowly.

“There is something wrong here, Captain, and I don’t know what it is.” Her words sounded bitter, as though she was angry with herself for not having been smart enough to see the truth.

“What have Tooms and Tony found?” Brant asked, hoping to break her concentration.

“Not much. Apparently, there was a sister, but she moved away, possibly to Philly,” she said, then shrugged as if to say she didn’t believe it either.

“Possibly?” Brant said, almost surprised at the lack of uncertainty.

Possibly“Her old boss apparently didn’t know her that well, but the boys think otherwise.” McCall frowned at the thought of Tooms’s description of the manager: a snake-like weasel, or something along those lines.

a snake-likeweasel“They should be back soon,” she announced, finally turning to face Brant.

“Any news on our missing waitress?” Brant asked, taking a seat in the chair of the desk next to hers. McCall shook her head as she bit her bottom lip.

“No, she’s in the wind. Not that I blame her. Seeing that body made me gag, so God knows how she felt,” McCall said, remembering her first case. It had been a mugging gone wrong. The perp had gone for the woman’s purse. She must have struggled to give it up. She was shot point-blank with a .38. McCall had been a rookie back then, and she had been first on the scene. Someone had reported shots in the park. On seeing the scene, McCall had been frozen to the spot. Her training officer wasn’t far behind, but it was unfortunate that he hadn’t arrived first.

A .38 round at close range makes a mess. McCall had never realised how much blood could come out of a body so quickly, but it was a headshot. The back of the woman’s head had disappeared. Fragments of skull and brain matter were spread over a large area, but it wasn’t until she had hit the floor that the red plasma began to pool.

The ringing phone McCall brought her back to reality. Brant looked over to his office phone as the noise of the electronic ring bellowed out of the open doorway. McCall’s boss got up and walked to his desk. He didn’t run. He figured that if it was important, they would wait, after all, they wanted him. After a moment of nodding and hand gestures, Brant came back to where McCall was sitting.

“That was Traffic. They said there was no footage of that alleyway. So, they are going to try and find the cab to find out where else it has been,” Brant said, not feeling hopeful they could actually find that particular needle in such a big haystack. He looked around for a second, a confused look on his face.

“So, where’s Steel?” Brant asked, suddenly noticing the British detective’s absence.

“He said he had some stuff to take care of. Hopefully, he’ll bring me back a coffee and a bear claw,” McCall joked.

Brant smiled and nodded. “Well, keep me posted, Detective,” Brant concluded, almost tempted to wait for the phone to ring again.

“Will do, sir. Will do,” McCall answered as she watched the large bear of a man head back into his office. It was almost three p.m. according to the clock above the elevator doors. Three o’clock and they had nothing. Forensics had a backlog, so the clothes that John Doe was wearing would have to wait their turn, according to their importance. More time wasted, she thought as she read the email from CSU.

More time wastedShe looked across at Tony’s empty desk and wondered what he must be feeling. She had lost her dad when she was younger, but it would be nothing to compare to what he was likely to be going through.

For now, it was a waiting game to see what else might come up.